Banking & commerce

1950s Coming Back

BANKING & COMMERCE In Italy

In The United Kingdom

In Turkey

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This material reflects the views only of the author and the commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.

Note: Countries listed in alphabetical order. ~1~

In Italy

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Banks and financial services

Central banca d’Italia http://www.bancaditalia.it/statistiche/storic http://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/pubsto/collsto

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Local saving bank

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The origin of Bank system

A new fronteer

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Generalfin share

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Dinamo share

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Treasury bill LIRE 20.000

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NAZIONALE ITALIANO (MAZZINIANO COSTITUITO DA MAZZINI, SACCHI, MONTECCHI) DA FRANCHI 5 REPUBBLICA ROMANA - a very rare document for money loans, signed by GIUSEPPE MAZZINI

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Just coins - The LIRA, the currency before the EURO

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Saving boxes

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Posters

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Posters

A calculator

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A vintage calculator

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In The United Kingdom

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• Relationships built on trust • An Englishman’s word is his “bond”

• Opening a business – no spreadsheets – no business plan – guarantors were local doctor, judge, MP • Women in Business !!

• Branch was across the road • Bank Manager was “known” to you by name • No computers • Adding machines were comptometers

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• No mobile phones • No texts • No internet • No call centres

• But you could contact your bank • They were pleased to hear from you !

• They knew you by name • They knew you by your business • They would recommend customers to you • They were not bound so much by regulation

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“The Character “Captain Mainwaring” from Dad’s Army Television Series Bank Manager elevated to Captain because of his social status & leadership skills Dad’s Army Dad’s Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The sitcom ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio version based on the television scripts, a feature film and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still repeated worldwide.

The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either owing to age or by being in professions that were exempt from conscription (Dad's Army deals almost exclusively with the former), and as such the series mainly featured older British actors, including Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Arnold Ridley and John Laurie. Among relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn (who played the elderly Jones), Frank Williams, James Beck (who died suddenly during production of the programme's sixth series in 1973) and Bill Pertwee.

• The bank Manager was an upright member of Society • Was looked to for “leadership” in the community

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In Turkey

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Political and Economical background of 1950s If we will talk about banking, I think it will be right to give some information of political and economic politics of the era as background to evaluate the period correctly in a whole.

Secondly, I’d like to mention about a few banks 0f the era and lastly, I’ll be telling you about a woman, an employee of Halkbank, one of the banks of the time.

Transition to liberal economy is one of the debatable subjects existing so far because dynamics in economy had come about due to political decisions rather than economic rules. Therefore, political unsuitability influenced economy directly and ended with import rush the public weren’t familiar with and inflationary pressures. The Democrat Party, standing for the first step of multi-party period of Turkey was founded by four deputies who had left the CHP, the political party established by Atatürk just after the declaration of Turkish Republic in 1923 in 1946. One of the possible reasons lying behind this separation was the land reform consisting of giving the farm lands to the farmers instead of the landlords. Adnan Menderes, the founder of Democrat Party had huge farm lands in Aydın region.

Adnan Menderes Prime Minister of Turkey 22 May 1950 – 27 May 1960 ~ 26 ~

Democrat Party got 53%of the votes in 1950 and became the first party in the parliament.

They aimed to reduce the role of the state in economy and encouraged the expansion of private sector, I mean liberalism. The government’s intention to build close economical relations with America and other Western countries for the sake of promoting private sector turned Turkey into an economically dependent country.

Also the monetary support of America with Marshall Plan enabled to modernize agriculture sector, but got the immigration of unemployed people of newly modernized agriculture started that would be a cause of emergence of slum areas in the cities. However, irrepressible inflation and the increase in exchange rate were negative reflections of liberalism in economy.

After World War II, statism in economy was replaced by the support of private sector and acceleration of economical development. This was the same for banking, too. The sector of private banking developed quite a lot. But as it didn’t have much profit, the investments were carried out by the Central Bank, so the state assumed some investments. In 1958, dollar was increased to 9 L. from2.8 L. with regard to the economical stability the period between 1944 and 1960 was characterized by the entry of 27 private banks and 3 public banks, including Akbank, Yapı ve Kredi Bankası, Garanti Bankası and Türkiye Sinai Kalkınma Bankası. By 1958 there were 62 banks in the system, which was not surpassed until 1989. ~ 27 ~

The number of bank branches increased fourfold and reached 1759 by 1959. However, most of the newly established banks didn’t stay in the sysytem long. 10 small Turkishowned and 4 foreign banks were liquidated between 1945-1959. The slowdown in economic activity towards the end of the 1950s, the 1958 recession and the government’s stabilization programme led to more failures.

Kadıköy Branch office of İş Bankası in 1950s ~ 28 ~

There wasn’t a competitive approach among the banks of 1950s in Türkiye. Only crucial thing for the banks was deposit market and they completely neglected credit market. As there wasn’t a propulsive force such as rivalry, the banks of the era didn’t pay attention to their customers’ wants and satisfaction. The only service they provided was assurance.

A few banks of the era After World War II, a lot of private banks were founded. Some of them were Yapı ve Kredi Bankası, Türkiye Garanti Bankası, Akbank, Türkiye Sınai Kalkınma Bankası, Denizcilik Bankası, İstanbul Bankası, fiekerbank, Pamukbank, Demirbank and Vakıflar Bankası.

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İş Bankası They widened the web of branch offices to reach farmers. İş Bankası broadened the web of branch offices to supply the needs and the expectations of farmers due to the result of growing agricultural activity and production. While in 1951 the number of the branch offices was 81, the number of it reached 244 in 1960. By the end of 1950s, the share of İş Bankası had reached 50% among the private banks in terms of the balance sheet size and the amount of credits and deposit.

TSKB Türkiye Sınai Kalkınma Bankası was the first private investment and development bank that was established with the support of Dünya Bankası in addition to the colobration of Turkish Republic, T.C. Merkez Bankası and trade banks.

In 1950s, TSKB  Provided private sector with credit for the projects in short and medium term.  Supplied technical consultation for the Project supporters.  Executed the priorities for the establishment of capital market. ~ 30 ~

 While there was lack of foreign currency in the country, it was the only bank that could provide foreign currency necessary for import.  Was the only institution mediating for the sale of the currency released from the Marshal Found in cash Interview Fatma Deniz Somunkıran was a young trainee of Halkbank in Kahramanmaraş in1957.

She says: 

There weren’t even cupboards; we used to have packaging chests to put our files.

And we would work for very long hours. We would stay at the Office until 2 or 3 a.m. at New Year time. But we would be at work at office time.

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 As soon as I graduated from high school, I started to work at Halkbank. All my colleagues were good and honest people. We still meet on Saturdays once a month.

 I went to the bank with short socks, babet shoes and in a floral cap sleeve dress. The first month of the work was hard for me. But I liked Halkbank a lot.

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Lotteries of banks

Students and the teachers at the back are going somewhere to donate from their own savings ( from Bekir Aydan's archieve)

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